Genres: Drama | History | War
Release Date: 19 August 2011 (USA)
A fictional account of events during the Philippine-American War.
Director: John Sayles
Writer: John Sayles
Cinematography by Lee Meily
Casts: Chris Cooper, DJQualls,GarretDillahunt , Lucas Neff, Dane DeHaan, Yul Vazquez, James Parks, Bill Tangradi, Joel Torre, Stephen Taylor, Bembol Roco, Pen Medina, Ronnie Lazaro, Rio Locsin
Storyline
AMIGO, the 17th feature film from Academy Award-nominated writer-director John Sayles, stars legendary Filipino actor Joel Torre as Rafael, a village mayor caught in the murderous crossfire of the Philippine-American War. When U.S. troops occupy his village, Rafael comes under pressure from a tough-as-nails officer (Chris Cooper) to help the Americans in their hunt for Filipino guerilla fighters. But Rafael's brother (Ronnie Lazaro) is the head of the local guerillas, and considers anyone who cooperates with the Americans to be a traitor. Rafael quickly finds himself forced to make the impossible, potentially deadly decisions faced by ordinary civilians in an occupied country. A powerful drama of friendship, betrayal, romance and heartbreaking violence, AMIGO is a page torn from the untold history of the Philippines, and a mirror of today's unresolvable conflicts.
Filming Locations: Philippines
Budget:$1,200,000 (estimated) Production Co: Pinoy Pictures
Review
Fighting the Good Fight!
John Sayles is the heart and soul of independent liberal filmmaking in the U.S. and he has triumphed once again with this small scale historical drama. Impeccably cast and masterfully written, Sayles only disappoints with his budgetary mandated use of digital cinematography. The sharp bright images of the film make one long for the warm celluloid grain of his frequent camerman Haskell Wexler. The Philippine/American War has hardly been touched by Hollywood except for THE REAL GLORY (1939), a flag waving whitewash of a controversial foreign incursion. Sayles is here to set the record straight and in this ambitious tale of a village invaded by naive American soldiers, he illuminates and entertains with his typically humanistic eye for people of all cultures, and the dark imperialistic inclinations of Western democracies.
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